Senate Bill No. 498
(By Senators Wagner, Schoonover, Miller, Bowman and Ross)
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[Introduced February 19, 1996; referred to the Committee
on Energy, Industry and Mining.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section fourteen, article one,
chapter twenty-two-a of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
authority of director and inspectors to enter mines; duties
of inspectors to examine mines; no advance notice; mandatory
inspection reduction program; and reports after fatal
accidents.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section fourteen, article one, chapter twenty-two-a of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. OFFICE OF MINERS' HEALTH, SAFETY AND TRAINING;
ADMINISTRATION; ENFORCEMENT.
§22A-1-14. Director and inspectors authorized to enter mines;
duties of inspectors to examine mines; no advance
notice; mandatory inspection reduction program;
reports after fatal accidents.
The director, or his or her authorized representative, has
authority to visit, enter, and examine any mine, whether
underground or on the surface, and may call for the assistance
of any district mine inspector or inspectors whenever such
assistance is necessary in the examination of any mine. The
operator of every coal mine shall furnish the director or his or
her authorized representative proper facilities for entering such
mine and making examination or obtaining information.
If miners or one of their authorized representatives, have
reason to believe, at any time, that dangerous conditions are
existing or that the law is not being complied with, they may
request the director to have an immediate investigation made.
Mine inspectors shall devote their full time and undivided
attention to the performance of their duties, and they shall
examine all of the mines in their respective districts at least
four times annually, except as hereinafter provided, and as
often, in addition thereto, as the director may direct, or the
necessities of the case or the condition of the mine or mines may require, with no advance notice of inspection provided to any
person, and they shall make a personal examination of each
working face and all entrances to abandoned parts of the mine
where gas is known to liberate, for the purpose of determining
whether an imminent danger, referred to in section fifteen of
this article, exists in any such mine, or whether any provision
of article two of this chapter is being violated or has been
violated within the past forty-eight hours in any such mine.
The director may approve fewer than four annual mine
inspections for a particular mine based on the safety performance
record and evaluation of risks at such mine.
Within one hundred twenty days of the effective date of this
section, the director in consultation with the mine safety and
technical review committee shall develop and implement a program
of reduced mine inspections for mines that qualify based on a
good safety performance record and low risk standing. The
program shall contain criteria and standards for evaluating mine
safety performance and conducting risk assessments at a mine. At
a minimum, the following variables shall be examined as part of
the mine evaluation: (1)Fatality and serious accident rate; (2)
compliance history; (3)nonserious accident rate; (4)design and implementation of the comprehensive mine safety program; and
(5)an analysis of state inspection records.
In addition to the other duties imposed by this article and
article two of this chapter, it is the duty of each inspector to
note each violation he or she finds and issue a finding, order,
or notice, as appropriate for each violation so noted. During
the investigation of any accident, any violation may be noted
whether or not the inspector actually observes the violation and
whether or not the violation exists at the time the inspector
notes the violation, so long as the inspector has clear and
convincing evidence the violation has occurred or is occurring.
The mine inspector shall visit the scene of each fatal
accident occurring in any mine within his or her district and
shall make an examination into the particular facts of such
accident; make a report to the director, setting forth the
results of such examination, including the condition of the mine
and the cause or causes of such fatal accident, if known, and all
such reports shall be made available to the interested parties,
upon written requests.
At the commencement of any inspection of a coal mine by an
authorized representative of the director, the authorized representative of the miners at the mine at the time of such
inspection shall be given an opportunity to accompany the
authorized representative of the director on such inspection.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to implement a program
where safe mines are inspected less than the mandatory four times
annually.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.